The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 was one of the most highly anticipated devices this year, not only from customers, but also from Samsung as they hoped it would help their slumping sales. Samsung took a calculated risk – although one wonders what ‘calculator’ they were using – when they brought out their ‘bread and butter’ Samsung Galaxy S5 earlier this year with no metal, no QHD display, no OIS and no change in their basic design. You do not have to have a degree in marketing to see that it had ‘disaster’ written all over it, and while the device was actually rock solid, it did not receive its usual notoriety. Fortunately, for Samsung, with the Galaxy Note 4, they did include the metal, the QHD display, the OIS and while they did not deviate too far from the basic design of the Galaxy Note 3, it was enough of a design change to be welcomed with opened arms.
Sales of the new Galaxy Note 4 are pegged at 4.5 million, 500,000 less in sales than the Note 3 during its first month – but so many factors are built in, such as when and where it was actually available. Samsung rolled out the sales areas of its Galaxy Note 4 more slowly, so the first month – which is not actually up yet – sales were only in Korea and China for the most part, so 4.5 million is showing a great start and a lot of momentum as sales are now opened up to North America – Canada and the U.S. Just to refresh your memory – it took 5 months for the original Galaxy Note (exclusively on AT&T) to reach the 5 million sales figure. The Galaxy Note 2 (on all carriers) hit the 5 million mark in only two months. Even though it took the Galaxy Note 3 only one month, I doubt that anybody expected the Galaxy Note 4 to achieve 5 million in less than a month, especially with its limited distribution.
With Samsung’s profits continuing to drop each quarter, we have to wonder if the surge in Galaxy Note 4 sales…along with the popular, but expensive, Galaxy Alpha…can help turn around the last quarter or even the year overall. Maybe Samsung has finally found the right combination of metal and faux leather to make the next Galaxy S6 a real winner and to start next year off on the right 64-bit foot. What do you think? Has Samsung started to turn the corner on its designing woes? Will you be picking up a new Galaxy Note 4 or would you consider the Galaxy S6 as your next device? Please hit us up on our Google+ Page…as always, we would love to hear from you.